May 25, 2006

Some Excellent Observations by Thomas Sowell - Excerpts From His Trilogy of Articles: "Bordering on Fraud"

Putting unarmed national guardsmen on the border is another cosmetic move, a placebo instead of real medicine. The excuse is that it is not possible to train more than 1,500 border patrol agents a year. Meanwhile, we have trained well over 200,000 Iraqi security forces while guerilla warfare raged around them. - Thomas Sowell

Thomas Sowell has written an excellent trilogy of three articles that address in detail all the fallacies of the current "Variations on a (bad) Theme by Kennedy and McCain" version of an immigration reform bill being hastily shoved down our throats by the Senate, along with the accompanying millions of illegal aliens to which it will grant virtual "Amnesty"!

The three articles, "Bordering on Fraud" parts I - III, are well worth reading in their entirety, however let's take a look at a few excerpts of Sowell's poignant observations. The following lengthy sampling of excerpts provides us with an eagles view of what's wrong with the Senate and their bill :

"The immigration bill before Congress has some of the most serious consequences for the future of this country. Yet it is not being discussed seriously by most politicians or most of the media. Instead, it is being discussed in a series of glib talking points that insult our intelligence."

(...) ...another insult to our intelligence is saying that, since we cannot find and deport 12 million people, the only choice left is to find some way to make them legal."

(...) Putting unarmed national guardsmen on the border is another cosmetic move, a placebo instead of real medicine. The excuse is that it is not possible to train more than 1,500 border patrol agents a year. Meanwhile, we have trained well over 200,000 Iraqi security forces while guerilla warfare raged around them.

(...) You can put a million people on the border and it will mean nothing if those who are caught are simply turned loose and sent back to try again tomorrow -- or perhaps later the same day.

(...) the biggest insult is the claim that border control legislation and legislation on the illegal immigrants already in the country must go together.

... Why? What will happen if they are done separately? And who will be worse off?"

(...) Pregnant women from Mexico simply walk across the border and have their babies in American hospitals. This creates an instant American citizen who cannot be deported and whose family members would be hard to deport. (unless legislation is enacted to take away citizenship from such "anchor babies") Those who claim to want to "control the borders" with this package-deal legislation don't even talk about this, much less try to do anything about it."

(...) Let's return to the question of what would happen if border control legislation were to be voted on separately from amnesty legislation, instead of in the current package deal.

(...) First of all, we would find out who is serious about border control, especially if the question of amnesty (by whatever name) is postponed for some definite period of time, in order to first see what happens at the border before taking that irrevocable step.

(...) Who would lose anything by this separate consideration of the two pieces of legislation? The country would not lose anything. Neither would the illegal aliens already in the country.

(...) The biggest losers would be (Republican) politicians. They could no longer be on both sides of the issue by voting for a package deal but would have to stand up and be counted on border control.

(...) Some say that the Democrats would filibuster a bill that offered border control separately. Fine. Let them! Let them show their true colors in an election year and then go face the voters in the fall.

(...) Of course, those Republicans who are either weak-kneed or who share the Democrats' views would also lose the political cover of being able to vote on both sides of the immigration issue." ( like McCain talking out of both sides of his mouth at the same time)

(...) Some people are worried that amnesty will give illegal aliens the same rights that American citizens have. In reality, it will give the illegals more rights than the average American citizen.

(...) Since most of the illegals are Mexican, that makes them a minority. Under affirmative action, combined with amnesty, they would have preferences in jobs and other benefits.

(...) If an American citizen forges a Social Security card in order to get a job, he can be arrested. Under a provision recently passed by the Senate, illegal aliens who forged Social Security cards not only get a pass, they get to collect Social Security benefits.

(...) The great majority of Senators who voted for that provision were Democrats, and they prevailed because they were joined by a small minority of Republicans, led by -- surprise! -- Senator John McCain. After similar defections on judges and free speech, Senator McCain may give opportunism a bad name." (Not to mention giving "Republicans" a bad name!)

(...) What the immigration bill in the Senate has become is just another attempt to pander to another special interest, in disregard of how that affects the country as a whole.

(...) Much is made of the fact that there are supposedly 12 million illegals in the country already. The last time illegal aliens were given amnesty, back in 1986, that led to even more illegal aliens coming in afterwards.

... Do we want 20 million or 30 million more illegal aliens iin the future? Do we want to change the very composition of the American population, and with it the values of the country?

One has to wonder how can any of the Senators voting for this fiasco of an "Immigration Amnesty Bill" today, can tell us with a straight face that they truly belive this bill is what is best for the country.